SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Thursday in thin turnover, tracking global market weakness, as worries grow that surging infections in China could trigger fresh outbreaks elsewhere after Beijing dropped zero-COVID policy and reopened economy.
** China’s blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.4% to 3,855.24 points by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% to 3,077.80 points. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 1.1%.
** China dismantled its strict zero-COVID policy this month, sending domestic infections soaring, and leaving its fragile health system overwhelmed.
** The re-opening raises the prospect of Chinese tourists returning to shopping streets around the world. The United States, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan said they would require COVID-19 tests for travellers from China.
** Market participants are having their eyes on the reopening of China, which could “drive near-term volatility in leading to knock-on virus surges across the globe”, financial adviser IG Asia Pte Ltd wrote in a note on Thursday. “Higher risks may come in the form of new variants’ resistance to current vaccines.”
** Reflecting the gloomy mood, the Global Investor Confidence Index fell in December to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic, according to the results published by State Street Global Markets on Thursday.
** China’s energy and financial shares fell sharply, while healthcare stocks rose.
** Chinese developers listed in China and Hong Kong also declined.
** But shares in China Fortune Land Development Co jumped as much as 6%, after agreeing to sell four property units for 12.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) as part of a debt restructuring.
** Shares of Chinese video game companies also rose, after regulators granted publishing licences to 45 foreign games for release in the country, marking an end of Beijing’s crackdown on the sector.
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